


Never Be Normal

by Sanguied



Category: Charmed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 22:26:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4683635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanguied/pseuds/Sanguied
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You can't keep them to yourselves. They are the strongest magical siblings in history." It's not easy being the powerhouses of good magic. Their cousins think they're freaks, their parents are over protective and the demons never give up.<br/>Unrated for now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There will be no Mary Sues, all OCS will be plot devises only. The main characters are Chris and Wyatt that will not change. AU from how the ending of the series was portrayed, though it’s all rather self-explanatory and not confusing. I’m not convinced Piper had a 3rd child nor do I care, there isn’t one here. I would ask that you forgive my literary license with the ages of the younger people; I needed them to be older. Please forgive and enlighten me on my errors. I am not affiliated nor do I own any part of Charmed. 

Part One: Halliwell freaks

Patience crossed her arms and slumped against the gym wall. 

She was already out of the magical game, with almost the whole school a witness to how fast she’d been taken out. It was embarrassing. This was supposed to be fun, no defensive powers just evasive. It wasn’t fun, in fact- it sucked. She glared at her cousins as they overtook the game. Again. They always ended up winning.

She turned away. It just wasn’t fair. 

Everybody far and wide knew her cousins, everybody, every fairy, every leprechaun, every whitelighter, every demon, every magical kid and their families. If you knew about magic, you knew them. 

People didn’t even know she was the daughter of a Charmed one. She didn’t have the famous last name. Her last name was plain old Mitchell with no magical history at all. Her mom said she was lucky that she had more choices than her famous cousins. She didn’t see it that way. She saw it as being totally unfair. 

In the magic world only two people counted as Halliwells and they were the famous Halliwell brothers, twice-blessed powerhouses of magic. 

The rest of them didn’t count. 

They all had their witch powers but besides those hardly anything at all. She only had orbing. Pandora (Dora, her twin sister) had healing. Their younger sister, Pamina (Mina) could levitate, sometimes. Her cousins, Aunt Phoebe’s girls were just as bad off. Prue had limited empathy. Petula (Tula) had some of the cupid powers but needed the ring to use them and Patricia (Tricia) had premonitions.

But Wyatt and Chris, well hell, it seemed like there was no end to their powers. 

On top of having their witch powers, Wyatt had telekinesis, orbing, energy balls, healing, thought projection, conjuring, a force field, molecular combustion, and he could use any of those powers in countless mixes and matches. 

Chris wasn’t much better, he had telekinesis, orbing, molecular manipulation, electrokinesis, and was just getting the hang of healing. He too could use those powers in any combination. 

There was even a chance that they might receive even more powers, as they weren’t (as Aunt Phoebe often said) done growing yet. The thought that they might become even more powerful made her see red. 

Patience slammed the side of her fist against the gym wall. It wasn’t fair. Her mom and her aunts said it was natural to only have one power besides the witch ones. All the other kids in magic school only had one power and none of those kids were as strong as they were. They also said that (with practice) one power could be just as powerful as many powers. Patience thought they were just trying to make her, her sisters and cousins feel better. It didn’t make her feel any better. 

She didn’t want all the problems that came with her cousin’s power though. Everyone knowing who they were led to constant threats. Demons were always after Wyatt and Chris either trying to turn them or kill them. 

She always felt so worthless when the family came under attack. She wanted to be able to help. She was 14, which was certainly old enough to help. Wyatt and Chris had been helping when they were babies! While Wyatt and Chris were called into the line of fire, her and Dora’s job was to get the younger ones to safety and that was it. The last time they had been under attack, they’d been taking a beating until Wyatt and Chris had shown up. They didn’t even have to fight, just seeing them the demons had run off screaming like little babies. 

What she was most jealous of wasn’t even their powers, though the powers would’ve been sweet. It was the ‘bond’ she really wanted. Chris and Wyatt weren’t twins so it didn’t make sense that they should have the bond while she and Dora, who were twins, didn’t. She couldn’t feel what Dora was feeling, have telepathic conversations with her or know where she was all the time. Yet Wyatt and Chris had all that. 

When she had complained to Dora about it, Dora had been happy they didn’t have the bond. 

“Patience they can’t turn it off. It’s not something I’d want. Think about it. What about that time those demons took Chris? Remember that story? Chris was like 6. Wyatt lost his mind. All he wanted was Chris and no one could calm him down. He left mom and the aunts to go find him and its lucky Wyatt’s as powerful as he is or they both would’ve been killed.”

“Chris!”

Patience yanked her head up in time to see Wyatt grab Chris around the waist and swing him behind him. Wyatt’s shield flashed into place as a dagger flew into it and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Wyatt’s shield dropped and he growled, to angry to form actual words. Chris patted his shoulder as he frowned and called out irritably. “Hey, what’s the big idea? Weapons aren’t allowed in the game.”

Students cleared back as a man, clearly too old to be a student, came to the front. He smiled pleasantly. “Wyatt and Christopher Halliwell,” the man was practically salivating at the sight of them. “It’s a true pleasure.”

On the other side of the room, a Centaur saw the commotion and made a fast canter over to them. “Who are you? You can’t be here?”

The man turned to Professor Gurnee just as the centaur stopped next to Wyatt. Gurnee glanced over to the boys, “You two okay?”

Wyatt nodded and growled. “That jerk threw a knife at my brother.”

Patience rolled her eyes. The dagger hadn’t even gotten close. Wyatt was just pathological about Chris.

Professor Gurnee saw the dagger and grabbed it off the floor. He looked to the man, anger making his features flush red. “You better explain yourself mister and quick.”

The grinning man nodded, barely glancing at the Professor, he only had eyes for Wyatt and Chris. “I’m Jim Trainer, from ‘Magic Life’ magazine. I’ve been trying to get an interview with the Halliwell brothers for months now.” He nodded towards the blade. “That wouldn’t have hurt them. It didn’t even get near them.” He shrugged. “I just wanted to get their attention.”

Wyatt’s face darkened. “Well we don’t interview with people that throw blades at us.”

Chris raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Even harmless ones.”

The man’s smile faltered. “Hey, I’ve been waiting months. Every time we call,”

“We tell you no.”

Patience turned towards the sound of her mother’s voice and saw her and Uncle Leo approaching. Her mother was in her full headmaster wardrobe, the robes giving an even more intimidating look to her already glacier glare.

Leo scowled at the man. “We’ve told you repeatedly, the boys will not be interviewed.”

Frowning and frustrated, the man gestured back towards Wyatt and Chris. “You can’t keep them to yourselves. They are the strongest magical siblings in history, destined to save our asses. We, the public, have a right to know who they are. We, the public, want to see them, hear about them. We have a right to know, after the Charmed Ones, who holds the mantel of protecting us. We,”

“Enough,” Paige cut him off. “Their parents have told you no. Legally you have no right to be here. I’m going to ask you to leave right now, if not,” she tilted her head and gave him a chilling smile, “I will escort you out.”

The man scowled. “This isn’t right.” 

Paige shrugged. “If you say so,” she turned and pointed towards the door.

The man glanced back at Wyatt and Chris, who were scowling and then furiously stomped his way to the door just before leaving he turned back. “You haven’t heard the last of this.” He left, slamming the door behind him. 

The students immediately began whispering among themselves, glancing at Wyatt and Chris. 

Leo made his way to his sons. Closer he could see how upset they were and cursed the man getting in. He sighed. “I don’t know how he got in here, but he won’t again.”

Wyatt nodded, the anger leached from his features and turning to concern as he looked to Chris. “You okay?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah, fine.” He rubbed his face in frustration. “Well they’ll all be gossiping about this for the next month.”

Wyatt sighed and looked to his father, his eyes full of strain. “Can we go home?”

Leo hesitated. He glanced around at the students, heard the whispers and nodded. “Go ahead.” He paused, “Straight home.” They orbed and Leo made his way from the room as Professor Gurnee tried to bring the students back to order. Outside the room Leo met up with Paige.

Paige shook her head, scowling. “Damn. I can’t believe he got in here. I’ll have Alice look into the security.” She turned to Leo. “Piper’s going to be so pissed.”

Leo nodded, distracted by his own thoughts. He patted Paige’s arm, absently comforting her. 

Paige noticed his distraction. Usually Leo would be all about checking on how the guy had gotten in, after all this wasn’t the first time, so his distraction worried her. “What is it?”  
Leo ran a hand through his slightly elder whitened hair. He glanced back to the door they had just left, thinking of the students behind it and the pain on his son’s features. “By the end of the day this is going to be all over the school.” 

“Oh yeah,” Paige agreed, something like this was hot gossip. “Damn,” she frowned, “this is hot gossip,” she could already see the ‘concerned’ parents coming to her office or calling in about those Halliwell boys being at the school, upsetting their children. She could already see herself spending the next two days convincing parents Wyatt and Chris weren’t a danger. 

Leo slumped in his Professor robes. “Yeah, half the kids already avoid them like the plague, while the other half goad them into reacting. Wyatt and Chris can’t even defend themselves without parents overreacting.” Not that Chris and Wyatt ever defended themselves, each other- to the death, but themselves nope.

Paige rolled her writing wrist, warming it up for the workout ahead. She already had several files in her office about Wyatt or Chris defending the other in such incidents. She nudged Leo’s arm. “Hey, this isn’t a big deal. I can handle anything that comes of this.” She was trying to make him feel better. She was sure her office could handle the parents, she just wasn’t sure about how to handle the students. Looking at Leo she could tell he was thinking the same thing and sadly Paige didn’t have a reply for that.

HHHHHHHHHH

Patience listened to her friends talk. It wasn’t anything new. 

“They’re such freaks.” Cleo tossed her hair.

Patience nodded. They were freaks, attention-stealing freaks. “I don’t know why my mom doesn’t just toss them out of here. They go up there,” she nodded towards the ceiling, “for all their real training anyway.”

Dora, Patience’s twin, scowled and shook her head. “They didn’t ask to be born and,” she glared at Cleo, “they are not freaks.”

“They shouldn’t have been born,” Brian said, “my father says they’re” he smirked at Dora, “dangerous mistakes.”

“They are not!” Dora hotly exclaimed. She turned to Patience, “I can’t believe you think like these fools. You know Wyatt and Chris. They’re our cousins for god’s sake. You know they aren’t dangerous.” 

Patience crossed her arms. “They are dangerous.”

Dora’s eyes widened. “How can you say that? They’ve never hurt us.”

Patience smirked, “Us, being the key word. They haven’t hurt us, but you know damn well anything they put a mind into hurting gets dead.” 

Dora’s arms stiffened, holding her clenched fists down, “Demons Patience. They hurt demons and that’s all.” 

Patience nodded. “So far that’s true, but get them angry enough.” She shrugged.

Dora, too blinded by rage to say anything else, turned and stalked away.

Cleo glanced at Dora’s back and shook her head. “I can’t believe how blind she is.”

Brian nodded in agreement. “Does anyone see any other Charmed ones and Elders getting together around here? After Wyatt and Chris, the punishment for a whitelighter dating any witch has been changed to immediate recycling. There’s got to be a reason for that.”

Another student, overhearing them, joined the conversation. “They had no idea how powerful a child from such a joining would be. You’d think they would’ve have figured it out and done something after Wyatt and before Chris was born.”

Patience agreed. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff they’ve done.” Her voice rising higher to carry as her cousin Prue joined them.

Prue, glancing around and seeing just who was standing around her, decided to make it a short stay, “where’s Dora?”

Patience shrugged. “She stormed off.”

Prue frowned and crossed her arms. “Are you bad talking our cousins again?”

“I’m not saying anything that isn’t true.” 

Prue sighed. “Whatever.” She turned, dismissing them to find her sane cousin. She glanced back to say. “They’re the closest things to actual angels you’re ever going to meet Patience.”

Patience scoffed and turned back to her friends. 

HHHHHHHHH

“Do you want a peanut butter sandwich?” Wyatt pulled the bread off the counter and waved it enticingly towards his brother, who was slumped despondently against the kitchen island. “You know you want one.”

Chris shrugged. “Whatever Wy, I don’t care.”  
They had missed lunch at school. Wyatt wasn’t a cook by any means. He could destroy cornflakes and he could tell Chris, who was a little better, didn’t want to cook but he had to be hungry. “I’ll put banana on it for you.” He smiled and wagged his eyebrows, trying to get even a little smile out of his brother. 

Chris didn’t even look up. His fingers were entwined in his bangs as his palms rubbed his forehead. 

Wyatt put the bread down and patted his back. “It’s all right little bro.” Wyatt grinned. “It could be worse, I could’ve fried him. Then they’d really have something to talk about.”

Chris groaned. “Don’t even joke about it.”

Wyatt slumped against the counter and sighed. “We could always try non-magic school again.”

Chris scowled and raised his head enough to look at Wyatt. “Yeah, cause that went so well the last time. They had to call the clearers and bucket loads of memory dust.”

“It wasn’t our fault demons attacked.” 

“Wy, the demon burnt all the hair off my kindergarten teacher.”

Wyatt snickered. “And she had that tattoo under there,” he laughed out loud, “Oh damn that was funny.”

Chris bit back his laughter, gave in and laughed. 

Wyatt grinned, happy something had pulled his brother out of his funk. He hated it when Chris was upset. The laughter didn’t last long though. “Everyone’s going to be talking about us again.”

Wyatt shrugged. “Who cares? They’re just jealous.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Been listening to mom again?”

“When she’s right-she’s right.” Wyatt smiled and pulled the bread closer. “So sandwich?”

Chris rolled his eyes and took the bread. “Yeah, but I better make them.”

Wyatt dropped onto Chris’ vacated stool, “Make mine ham and cheese.”

Chris looked at him with a disbelieving quirk of his eyebrow.

“Please.” Wyatt smiled sweetly.  
Chris sighed and went to the refrigerator. 

Wyatt opened the bread and reached behind himself for some paper towels. “It’s nothing we haven’t heard before. Never meant to be- bla…bla…monsters-bla…bla. They can’t seem to come up with any new material.”

“Don’t forget dangerous,” Chris said, as he slapped his brother’s sandwich together. 

Wyatt nodded with mock seriousness. “No can’t forget that one.” He grabbed his sandwich before Chris could beat it further. “We’re supposed to save them all, probably practically die to do so and then systematically go by to all their homes and kill them in really awful ways.” 

Chris sighed. “We should let the “great” evil kill them all off and save ourselves the trouble. We don’t even know where they all live.”

Wyatt smirked and shook his head. “And where would be the fun in that?” He grabbed some sodas and chips. “Come on let’s see what’s on the plasma.”

Piper walked through the door. She was getting too old to do this anymore, P3 and the restaurant, but now that the restaurant was doing so well she really didn’t need P3 anymore. It was something to look into. 

She paused as she heard the plasma in the den and glanced at her watch. It was too early for the boys or Leo to be home. She cautiously snuck into the den. She couldn’t imagine demons breaking into the manor to watch the plasma, but stranger things… 

It was quiet and she didn’t see anyone. She walked around the couch, hands raised. She lowered them with a love-filled smile. Her smile widened as she took them in, her boys sleeping on the couch. 

She tilted her head. Chris’ neck was going to kill him after sleeping like that. Chris was on one end of the couch tightly curled up, as he was prone to do when he slept, his head resting awkwardly on his bent arm. Wyatt had his head against the other end of the couch, slightly more comfortably and his legs along its length tangling with Chris’. 

As happy as she was to see them, and she was always glad to see their faces, they should’ve been at school, unless. “Damn.” She whispered. She reached forward and sweet murmured Chris into a better position. Once she was satisfied, they were squished but comfortable she got up and went towards the kitchen. She mentally went through her husband’s schedule. At this time Leo would be between classes. “Leo.” She called out the ceiling. “Leo, don’t ignore your loving wife.”

A sparkle of orbs announced her husband, who smiled at her indulgently. “Ignoring you? That was just your second call.” He leaned forward to accept the kiss she gave him. He leaned back still holding her hand. “I was just setting someone up to take my last class so I could come home.”

Just as Piper had thought, “What happened?” 

Leo sensed his children in the den. “Are the boys watching the plasma?”

Piper smiled at the thought. “More like crashed out in front of it.”

Leo nodded and could tell from his wife’s smile that the boys didn’t look to upset. “Do you remember that reporter from ‘Magic Life’?”

Piper pulled back from Leo and went the refrigerator. She had a feeling she wanted her hands full for this and what better excuse than dinner. She scowled at the mention of the reporter. “Do I? The man practically stalked me trying to get me to okay an interview with the boys.” She looked to Leo. “What happened?”

Leo knew better than to sugarcoat it. “He got into magic school today.”

“He what?” Piper hissed. “The nerve of that man.” She took a couple of deep breaths. “Tell me.”

Leo told her. Piper’s temper had not mellowed over the years but she had learned to harness it for where and when it was needed. Right now the meat seemed to need it as she beat the hamburger into submission. 

After taking a few minutes to absorb, she sighed and washed her hands. “What are we going to do? They can’t go to public school.” She closed her eyes. “Why won’t everyone just leave them alone?”

Leo slid his hand along the countertop and slipped it over hers lightly squeezing, “Because they’re not just boys Piper. There may be some children of whitelighters and witches. But Wyatt and Chris are the children of a Whitelighter/Elder and a Charmed one and that makes all the difference in the world. They are the first and only of their kind in existence. The only ones that ever will be.”

Piper sniffed. Leo gripped her hand and brought it to his lips for a brief kiss. She opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. “But they are our little boys.”

Leo nodded. “And no matter how powerful they always will be. We’ll protect them Piper.”

HHHH  
Chris was dreaming of a time when his parents had done just that. 

It was dark and he was scared. Chris huddled against the rock wall. He was hoping, if he was quite enough, the demons huddled together and biting words at each other would forget he was there. He was so scared. He had tried to orb but couldn’t.

Wyatt was screaming in his head and Chris tried to tell him where he was but he didn’t know where he was. So he reached out.

Chris could feel his approach before the tinkle of orbs actually appeared. Wyatt! He pushed against the wall with his back as he rose from the floor. 

The demons broke apart, yelling and cursing, one threw up his hands and the orbs crashed to the floor in front of Chris. Chris yelped and grabbed his head with one hand even as he grabbed the form of his brother with the other. “Wyatt,” he looked to the demons circling in front of them. “This isn’t the time for sleep.” Chris shook his brother’s shoulder but got no response. He knew Wyatt had hit his head but couldn’t understand why that was making him sleep. Chris frantically tried to wake his brother, both mentally and vocally pleading with him. Chris pulled until Wyatt was as close as he could get. He tried to push the demons back with his telekinesis, but he was terrified and there were so many. They needed Wyatt’s shield. 

The demons around them watched and commented. 

“This is it?” One snorted.

“We should kill them.” Another grinned. 

“Fuck that we should sell them.” He inched closer to them.

“Hell yeah, they’re priceless. The only two in existence.” The demon licked his lips.

Chris winced as the demon reached towards them. He closed his eyes, expecting the demon’s hand to touch his face. His eyes flew open at the demon’s pained hiss. The shield crackled in front of them. Chris slumped against the wall in relief. He didn’t know how Wyatt was doing it in his sleep but Chris was thankful. He rubbed the side of Wyatt’s head in thanks. 

The demon that had reached for them shook his hand. “Fuck!”

Another smirked. “We’ll just wait them out.”

“Shouldn’t be too long. They don’t seem to be that powerful.”

“Give them 10 years and they’ll annihilate you without blinking.” A new voice interrupted.

Growling and readying themselves, the demons twisted on their feet to face the newcomers, a man and woman. The demons rippled with wariness and fear, just now realizing what they’ve unleashed. 

“Until then you’ll just have to deal with us.” 

Chris could see between the demon’s legs and relaxed in relief. Mom and Dad looked pissed. Dad’s hands were crackling with lightening and mom’s eyes were narrow, picking her targets. A wind picked up in the tunnel, a sure sign his mom was getting ready to destroy a lot of demons together. 

One the demons turned and looked down at him. “Shit! Kid call mommy and daddy off!

Chris shook his head. 

The demon tried to run from the room and his feet were blown away, just his feet. Yep mom was pissed. 

It wasn’t long before his mom was before him brushing the hair out of his face. “It’s okay peanut.” His dad was healing Wyatt and Chris nodded as his brother’s awareness flashed across his mind. 

HHHHHHHHHH

“Chris.” 

Chris blinked and realized he had been dreaming. He was no longer 5 years old and being saved by mom and dad, though this wasn’t right either. He scratched the side of his head and looked around him. He was in the attic and Wyatt was standing a few feet ahead of him. 

He could see his father kneeling on the floor with his hands raised but he couldn’t see around Wyatt to what his father was doing or to who, though dad had his concentrated healing face on. Chris walked up to stand beside his brother and gasped. “Aunt Paige!” She was lying on the floor, dark blood pooling beneath her and a large hole in her chest. He looked to her face and then away, her eyes were open and fixed, and he knew his father’s healing would have no effect. 

Chris put his hand on Wyatt’s arm and felt the tremors running through his body. He looked to his mother and Aunt Phoebe, who were crying and slowly pulling themselves off the floor. Chris meant to pull himself and his brother to their mom, until he saw the look on her face and back peddled. He looked up to Wyatt’s face, he look scared and painfully sorry.

“Monster! You killed her.” 

Chris twisted his head at his Aunt Phoebe’s hiss. Both women looked furious and underneath terrified. 

“It was an accident. I didn’t mean to, the demon…” Wyatt whimpered. 

“Mistake,” Their mother whipped and Wyatt literally fell back a step.

“Mom…please.”

Chris closed his eyes as his heart rolled with Wyatt’s pain. He felt Wyatt’s arm tighten around him. 

“Chris.” Wyatt whispered desperately.

“This isn’t real.” He looked up to his brother’s face. “We’re dreaming.” Chris looked back to his family’s enraged faces and turned back to Wyatt. “We have to wake up.”

“We created them,” their dad’s voice slithered in, “we should destroy them.”

Phoebe nodded. “They should have never been born in the first place.”

Chris couldn’t understand how she could say those words and still look like sweet Aunt Phoebe. “Wyatt.” They backed up, keeping away from the nightmares moving closer.

“I never loved either of you. We just pretended to so we could control you.” 

Both boys flinched from their mother’s venom. 

Chris shook his head. He was not going to let Wyatt drag him in. “Wyatt, this isn’t real.”   
Wyatt looked down to him with tears in his eyes. 

Chris hated this dream, whether it was one of his versions or one of Wyatt’s, it hurt. It was a pretty standard nightmare for one of them. When they were awake Wyatt was confident and sure, but Chris knew this existed and he knew Wyatt knew he knew, it just wasn’t something they spoke about. When they were awake he let Wyatt reassure him, but when they were sleeping, it was a matter of who realized they were dreaming first.

Wyatt finally clued in and shook himself. “Wow”, he looked towards the angry figures, all of which were fading to nothingness. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

Chris shrugged, “Anytime.” He watched the bloodspot simply disappear. They were so careful not to lose control when their family was around. They never used their full strength, always pulling their punches just in case. Some of their powers hadn’t ever been used in front of their family. The only time they ever let loose and used everything they had was when they were in the underworld alone, just the two of them, against as many upper level demons as they could find. 

Chris sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes.

“I smell dinner.” Wyatt stretched, before jumping off the couch. 

Chris rolled his eyes. “You always smell dinner.” Chris followed him. “Hey cookies?”

Next time: “Mom maybe we should just interview with one of the magazines, an exclusive.”

"The Halliwell Brothers: If you don't fear them, you should."

Thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

_“Written like this mental communication.”_

 At the dinner table that night:

“Mom, maybe we should just interview with one of the magazines, an exclusive.” Wyatt glanced between his parents for their thoughts. He already knew Chris’ he could feel Chris’ apprehension and dread. He didn’t want to be singled out anymore than his brother did but maybe this would stop future incidents. He didn’t want any more knives thrown at Chris.

Piper cut into her food with a vengeance and though she didn’t want to admit it, she knew Wyatt had a point.

“Which one did you have in mind son?” Leo glanced between his sons, both of whom looked less than thrilled with the prospect. Chris moved the food around his plate rather than eat it. Wyatt still ate, nothing put him off eating completely, but he was a lot less talkative than usual.

Wyatt shrugged. “I don’t care, just as long as it isn’t that guy who was in school today.”

Piper couldn’t agree fast enough. “No, that’s not happening.” She snapped her fingers when it came to her. “Magic Times.”

Wyatt’s food suddenly felt like mud in his mouth and he grabbed his water.

Chris’ eyes were wide. “Mom that a worldwide publication. I don’t think they’d be interested.”

Piper jumped up and returned with envelope. “They may not be stalkers or demanding but I get one of these twice or so a year.” She pulled out a sheet of fine paper and a business card then slid them across the table.

When it didn’t look like Wyatt was going to even look at the paper, Chris rolled his eyes and picked it up. He quickly skimmed over the page and it may have been Chris who’d read the paper but it was Wyatt who sighed and said. “Okay, so they do want to interview us.”

Their parents, well used to their sons sharing information between themselves, didn’t even notice. “They’ve always treated your mom and the sisters fairly when they’ve interviewed them.” Leo offered.

“That’s true and Phoebe has written for them a few times. I’ll call her and see what she thinks. She might even have a recommendation for the interviewer. We’ll have to schedule it so we can be there.”

“Mom, you don’t have to be there.” Piper raised one eyebrow at Chris. “If this is going to happen, I’m sitting right in the middle of it and maybe your Aunt Phoebe too.”

Chris slumped further into his seat, while Wyatt gave an uneasy grin, “Sounds great mom.”

Piper took the paper back. “It’s not something we have to do anytime soon.” It was something she planned to put it off as long as possible.

Leo tried to turn the tide of the conversation. “You guys want to borrow the car tonight? Hang out with your friends?”

“ _What friends?_ ” Chris sent to Wyatt.

Wyatt mentally shrugged. “ _Hope springs eternal._ ”

“Na, I think we were going to hang out here and watch the Bruce Lee marathon.”

“Well don’t stay up too late. Remember you promised Mina you’d go to her class tomorrow.” Leo knew they had completely forgotten by the scowls that appeared.

“Actually I remember you volunteering us Dad.” Chris replied. “ _That’s all we need after today’s fiasco._ ”

“ _It just keeps getting better, bro._ ” Wyatt snagged the last meatball off his brother’s plate before he said. “Yeah, we were wondering about that. You never let us do this before, like when we were in Professor Lance’s class.”

Piper scoffed. “You were too young then. Now you’re 17 and 16 and can help Mina out.”

“What are the other cousins going to say?” Chris replied. “We didn’t go to any of their classes.”

“I think they’ll understand.” Leo grabbed some dishes from table as he stood.

“ _Not likely._ ” Chris didn’t even bother saying it out loud.

HHHHH-

Outside the ‘un-official’ school hangout:

“Maybe we should invite Wyatt and Chris.” Prue glanced at Dora but then back to looking around the parking lot they were crossing.

Patience, on Dora’s other side, was the first to answer. “We are not inviting the freaks to hang with us. We show up with them and no one will stick around to talk to us.”

Dora sighed and stopped, turning to face both her cousins. “We could call them. After what happened today, they’ll say no and then mom won’t yell at us for not including them again.”

“Yeah, they won’t come, you know how they are.” Prue wanted to at least call them.

“I don’t see why we have to even call. We didn’t invite Mina or Tricia either.”

“Patience, Mina and Tricia are 12 and 10 years old they couldn’t even get in. That’s why we didn’t bring them. You know if Mina was old enough we would have brought her.” Patience didn’t bother arguing that point as it was true. She and Dora adored their little sister. She spotted Tula coming from the club and said, “Let’s ask Tula for her opinion.”

Prue turned and smiled a greeting at her sister, who was grinning happily.

Tula bounced as she joined them. “Jamie’s here and OMG, he and Helen are broken up. He needs comfort and I got to get back to it. What is taking you all so long? I’ve been in there waiting for 20 minutes.”

Patience smiled back, happy for her cousin, they all knew Tula had been crushing on Jamie forever. She didn’t want to be the damper but, “Your sister wants to call the powerhouses.”

Tula whipped her head to Prue. “Hell no. Everybody’s here and Jamie is talking to me. TO ME. He asked me to dance and if you call in the brothers it will ruin everything.” She caught the look on her sister’s face and sighed. “Look I love the powerhouses, you know I do, but they put a serious damper on our social lives. You know between the magical beings sucking up and our friends running away. ”

As the oldest, 15 almost 16, Prue knew the right thing to do and knew how to get her cousins to agree. “If we don’t call and Aunt Piper finds out, she’ll get that look on her face.” All the girls knew exactly what look Prue was talking about, it was mixture of hurt and sadness. “And we all know after today they’ll say no. Whenever they get upset, they pull into each other and don’t want anything to do with anyone else. So we know they won’t say yes just to make our lives hell. And if we call, our mothers won’t yell at us for not including them.”

Patience sighed as she gave in. She loved her Aunt Piper and really hated that look on her face. It was bad enough Aunt Piper had to deal with mothering the powerhouses. She didn’t want to make life harder for her.

Dora nodded agreeing with all of Prue’s points and Tula slumped. “Oh okay, call them.” She mock frowned, “but if they do come and Jamie runs off I’m going to be seriously upset.”

Prue pulled out her cell phone and waved the others away. “Go ahead. I’ll call and meet you inside.” She watched them walk away and hoped she was right. She wanted to have a good time tonight too.

HHHHH

Piper grabbed Wyatt’s cell phone, looked at the screen and with a smile answered the call. “Hi Prue, what are you up to Sweetie?” As the girl talked Piper’s smiled widened. “Really, they’re here. Hold on one sec and you can ask them.” She hightailed to the TV room.

Wyatt raised an eyebrow at his mother’s entrance and seeing the phone her hand, nudged Chris to pause the TV.

Piper sat on the coffee table in front of the couch and offered the phone. “It’s still early you could take the car.”

Wyatt took the phone and listened to Prue, as he asked Chris. “ _Feel up to torturing the cousins?_ ”

“ _Na, want some popcorn though._ ”

_“I’ll conjure some as soon as we get rid of mom._ ” Wyatt let Prue finish and instead of pausing he quickly put her out of her misery. “Thanks for calling Prue but we’re just gonna stay home tonight.” He hung up before his mom had time to voice her opinion.

Piper sighed and stood. “You could’ve gone for a couple of hours.”

“We’ve been waiting all week for this marathon mom.” Chris tried to ease the look off his mother’s face.

“We’ll go out this weekend.” Wyatt offered and shrugged at Chris’ look. “ _We’ll orb to England or something._ ”

“Yeah, we’ll do something this weekend.” Chris grinned at their mom all the while mentally muttering to Wyatt. Chris flicked his fingers and the movie started again.

Piper stood, “use the remote Chris.”

“I don’t know where it is.”

“Chris, how many times,”

Wyatt could tell his mom was just looking for a reason. He quickly reached into the couch, pulled out a remote and held it up victoriously. “Here it is mom, we’ll use it.”

Piper nodded, suddenly looking a little more tired. “Okay. Don’t stay up too late, huh guys.” She gave them each a kiss on the forehead before she left the room.

Chris grabbed the remote, “you didn’t even conjure the insides.”

“I was in a hurry. I don’t know why you have to goad her like that?” He turned the empty remote into a bowl of popcorn, “here”.

“I don’t know. I just have to. I can’t help it; it’s the look on her face that makes it so worth it.” He leaned sideways against Wyatt so they could share the popcorn and orbed them drinks from the kitchen.

HHHHHH

Patience had no idea where her sister and cousin’s were. She wasn’t activity looking for them either. There wasn’t supposed to be alcohol allowed but Cleo had snuck in enough to make it interesting.

Brian slid up to her side with a playful nudge. “Hey Patience, that reporter guy is outside talking to your sister.”

“What reporter,” she looked at Brian, “the one that got into school?” He nodded. “He’s talked to a few kids. I thought you might want to,” she handed her drink off to another friend and stood up, “show me.” Patience spotted them right away as there was quite a group around. The guy looked the same as he had at magic school old- mid-30’s, kinda short and really not cute. Maybe he had some gnome blood in him. He was talking to a girl with long light brown hair, which Patience immediately recognized as Dora.

They walked up just in time to hear Dora say, “No, you’re mixing my words up.”

Jim Trainer smiled derisively. “That’s exactly what you said.”

“But that’s not what I meant.” Dora hissed. “Being hybrids does not make them less human. My mother is half-whitelighter and would you like to tell her she’s not human? In fact I’ll call her right now and you can share your theory.”

Jim sighed and shook his head. “Miss Mitchell, I am not trying to disparage your ancestry. I’m just trying to understand the Halliwell brothers. Do you have anything you want to share about them, in an effort to help me understand them?”

Dora shook her head. “You just don’t get it, you can’t understand them. I can’t understand them. They’ve got more to live up to than we can understand. Destiny sends them birthday gifts for god’s sake; I can’t understand that, can you?”

Mr. Trainer blinked. “Destiny? Damn I want to interview them.” He turned to Patience, “what about you? Anything to say?”

Dora nudged her and begged with her eyes. “No she doesn’t have anything to say. She loves our cousins just like we all do. Wyatt and Chris have always safeguarded magic and will continue to do so.” Dora dragged her back towards the club. Patience allowed herself to be pulled but caught Mr. Trainer’s eye and tilted her head back with a nod. She protested that she wasn’t going to say anything the whole way but Dora wasn’t buying it.

One they were back inside, Patience pulled away and said over the music. “Fine, Dora, I get it. I’m going to find Tula. You find Prue and let’s get out of here. Dora nodded and turned from her, while Patience went the other way and into the bathroom. She ducked into an empty stall and orbed, to stand in front Mr. Trainer in the alley next to the club. He opened his mouth and she held up a hand. “Don’t. I’m not going to say anything. My mother would kill me and Aunt Piper would be hurt so don’t try it. However if you meet me at the Bean Bag around 2 tomorrow I might have something for you.”

  
“I believe that can be arranged Miss Mitchell.” She nodded and disappeared. Once again in her empty stall she flipped open her phone. “Come on,” she muttered as it rang, “come on, I know you haven’t gone to bed yet.”

HHHHHH

“I don’t know where you put it.” Wyatt whispered as they searched around for Chris’ ringing phone. Hoping they found it before their mom woke up and found it.

Disgusted by the whole thing Chris held out his hand. Blue lights appeared and faded, leaving a phone sitting in Chris’ palm. He slid his fingers over the screen and answered the call after briefly glancing at the screen. “Patience? What’s up?” It was rare for Patience to call them.

“Hey. Look Chris, I don’t want to upset the others so I didn’t tell them, but I spotted a dark-lighter in the parking lot. He dark-orbed as soon as I saw him, but I think their population has risen again. I remember where they were the last time so I was going to go check it out myself but,”

“No! Hey no, we’ll check it out. We remember where it is too. We’ll handle it okay?” Chris near about panicked thinking of Patience going into that by herself and next to him Wyatt was nodding his head and yelling in his that they would take care of it.

Patience grinned. “Thanks guys. Make sure to check the inner cave, okay? There were a lot of them hiding in there last time.”

“We got it.” Wyatt said loud enough for her to hear as he tossed Chris his shoes.

Chris hung up his phone and glanced to Wyatt as he put on his shoes. “Kinda nice that she called us instead of the mom and the aunts.

Wyatt nodded with a shrug. “Yeah, but she probably didn’t want to wake them up.”

“True.” Chris glanced at the clock, “its 11, do we tell the rents or not?” Wyatt pulled on a long-sleeved shirt over his tee and grabbed Chris’ hoodie.

“Na, let’s just go and work off some energy.”

Chris cracked his knuckles, “Sounds good to me, kicking demon ass works better than coco.”

HHHHH

The next morning outside Mina’s class.

“How long before they call us in?” Chris yawned.

Wyatt shrugged. “Don’t know, hopefully not too long.”

“ _I didn’t even get breakfast._ ” Chris complained as he yawned again.

Wyatt rolled his eyes and conjured him an apple. “Here, quit your bitching.”

Chris smiled, “Thanks bro,” he slumped against the wall to eat it. He tapped the fingers of his free hand against the wall and they were able to hear what was going on in the classroom.

Miranda Lance was nervous and excited, so much so that she had forgotten to take roll and dropped her book twice now. She had been waiting for this moment since she had heard. She had waited each year hoping Leo and Piper would decide the boys were old enough to give a display. She’d been studying and giving this lecture on the swords of King Arthur for 32 years and had never seen the legendary swords themselves. “Now remember everything we’ve discussed class.” She walked towards the door.

“Show time baby bro,” Wyatt straightened.

“Not a baby,” Chris sighed with an oft repeated mumble and threw up his apple core, which promptly disappeared before it hit the floor. Wyatt tapped his fingers against the wall, stopping any more words from the class. Chris kept his head down and let Wyatt, who was so much better with the public and speaking to them, take over. He could feel the kid’s eyes on them.

“As you all should know and it will be on the test, Wyatt and Chris Halliwell are the current holders of Arthur’s legacy.

Wyatt grinned and glanced back with a thought. _“Only test we passed with an ‘A’ just by saying me and us a lot._ ”

“ _It’s the only test you ever got an ‘A’ on period and I helped._ ” Chris threw back lightheartedly, fighting back his smile. He looked around the room and gave Mina a smile, while Wyatt gave her a little wave.

Mina smiled and waved back. She didn’t want the brothers to think she was being mean, but she didn’t really want to remind her classmates they were family either. She glanced around, hearing some of her classmate’s nervous laughter. She caught the eye of her best friend who shrugged but seemed okay.

Wyatt made a production of calling Excalibur and the sword complied with a showy entrance. While a small gesture of Chris’ fingers had Clarent in his hand. Mrs. Lance, standing a few feet away breathed out in reverence, “Clarent.” She turned to her students, all of which were staring at the swords with awe and underlying apprehension. “Now can anyone tell me something about these swords?”

Mina didn’t dare raise her hand until several other students had as well.

Mrs. Lance pointed to a boy in the back. “Paul,”

“Excalibur is the sword of war, protecting the kingdom. While Clarent is the sword of peace and grants entrance into the kingdom.”

Mrs. Lance nodded, proud that something had obviously sunken into her student’s heads. She pointed out another child, “Clarent and Excalibur are sister swords made by the same fires. Excalibur was watched over by the Lady of the Lake and Clarent by the Lady of Avalon.”

“Wonderful, Thomas. Mina, do you have another?”

“Clarent is the only sword to beat Excalibur in battle.” Mrs. Lance nodded towards her with a smile, “very good.”

It went on like this for several minutes, with Wyatt and Chris just holding the swords and sometimes showing something the teacher was commenting on. “ _One thing she hasn’t mentioned yet, they aren’t light._ ” Chris mumbled into Wyatt’s mind.

Wyatt dropped his head to muffle his snort and noticed his shoe was untied. Without looking to Chris he thrust out Excalibur, “hold this.” Chris rolled his eyes and took the other sword and felt like even more of a tool now holding 2 big ass swords.

Several of the students noticed, most of them froze, but some quickly raised their hands. Seeing half the classes hand’s rise as one, Mrs. Lance turned to see what had so alarmed her kids. She swallowed thickly and paled.

One of the kids, unable to wait for his teacher’s attention, called out, “Mrs. Lance, you said if anyone but Wyatt held Excalibur they’d turn evil?”

The shoelace broke in Wyatt’s hand and he cursed mentally even as he said, “Yep.” He conjured another shoe lace. “For the current title holder of Lady of the Lady, which my mom now holds, it takes awhile but for anyone else it’s pretty quick.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “ _Wyatt, you ass-hat, I’m holding Excalibur and I think Mrs. Lance is going to faint._ ”

Wyatt quickly finished his shoe and bounced up. “Of course that doesn’t include Chris.”

“What?” Mrs. Lance, now much further away asked.

“Chris is the rightful holder of Clarent. That title gives him equal right to wield Excalibur.”

Mrs. Lance forgot about her uneasiness and rushed forward. “Really that’s fascinating. Can you wield Clarent?”

“Yeah, but Clarent prefers Chris.”

“And for good reason,” Chris rolled his eyes and handed Excalibur back, “Excalibur prefers Wyatt, they’re both showy.”

“Are you saying the swords talk to you?” Mrs. Lance forgot about her class, totally emerged in the knowledge.

“ _And now she thinks we’re crazy,_ ” Chris complained. “No Mrs. Lance, it’s just a general feeling we get.”

Wyatt felt a headache coming on.

HHHHHH

Patience knew she didn’t have much time. It wasn’t likely her mother would orb home to check up on her but it wasn’t totally out of the question either. Her mother was all about taking a mental health day every once in a while and with her grades she could afford it. She entered the coffee shop with a confident toss of her head, when they last thing she felt was confident. Her nervousness stemmed not from any feelings about hurting Wyatt or Chris, but of what would happen if the rest of her family found out. Well that was not going to happen. She didn’t bother looking for the reporter until she had her mocha in hand. She glanced around, a customer looking for a place to sit. She approached the table near the corner and far from the windows. “May I sit with you?”

“Please Miss.” Jim Trainer smiled with a nod towards the seat across from him.

She sat, while removing something from her pocket.

She reached forward to get a napkin and Trainer put his hand in his pocket, as he leaned forward, “A Ronyx crystal?”

Patience softly murmured. “My mother learned how to make them after one was used to spy on her and the sisters for some demon show.”

Trainer nodded, remembering such an incident. “What’s on it?” She shrugged, “don’t know. I didn’t look. Just keep the rest of the family out of it.”

He nodded eagerly, “Of course Miss. Mitchell.”

She looked at the clock on the wall and said. “Oh, I’m going to be late, thank you for the seat sir.”

“My pleasure, Miss.” She left the shop, minutes after Jim Trainer did the same.

HHHHHH

The next morning, Paige drank her coffee as she tapped through her pc pad. It was her usual morning ritual. She was all ready to go, having learned long ago to get in and out of the bathroom before the girls woke up. She could hear the girls fighting it out over the shower from where she sat in the kitchen. She skimmed through the news going around the magic world, skipping over an article about the choosing of a new King of the Leprechauns. She moved onto the next and her eyes caught the sheer number of people reading the article and mentally remarked on it, as it was a large number for this early in the morning, or any time of day really. Then her eyes caught sight of what the article was about, ‘The Halliwell Brothers: If you don't fear them, you should.’ She fumbled for her cell phone even as she read. The article included video and pictures. Her blood ran cold. She lifted her cell to her ear without looking away. “Piper, I know it’s early. Don’t let the boys go to school. Just take my word for it. I’ll be over as soon as I get the girls off to class. And Piper, do me a favorite and don’t look at your pad until I get there.”

TBC

 


End file.
